Press Photos/Katie BarnesGeno Palmer watches his flooded house from U.S. 31 in Mason County on Friday.

LUDINGTON -- Surrounded by water, Annette Palmer and her daughters sat in their temporary home -- the back of a pickup -- and could do nothing more than wait.

An historic rainstorm -- packing up to a foot of rain in six hours -- had pushed creeks and rivers over their banks, washed out dozens of roads, including main highways, and turned the Palmers' ranch-style home along U.S. 31 into an island.

"We have to wait and watch it recede," Palmer said as she and her family sat on the truck's tailgate in front of the home. "All you can do is sit and look."

U.S. 31 is washed out in Freesoil on Friday near where the Big Sabel river intersects the road.

All across the northern Michigan counties of Mason, Manistee, Wexford and Lake, residents and authorities were mopping up after a line of storms beginning Thursday night deluged the area. No injuries were reported, authorities said, but road closures are expected to divert traffic for several days in some areas. Authorities said travel should be restricted to emergencies since road stability has not been assessed.

"It's something we haven't seen or even compared to in the last 20 years," Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky said. "There's extensive damage to our road system, we've got problems with the sewer system rupturing in Ludington, we've evacuated the (Ludington) state park.

"It's all over the map and all remarkable, even more so that we were fortunate enough to have no reported injuries."

About 250 campsites at the park were cleared Friday, and it wasn't known when the grounds would reopen. It rained so hard that Hamlin Lake near Ludington rose 2.7 feet overnight, threatening to breach the dam separating it from Lake Michigan, officials said. The dike is structurally sound, Knizacky said.

Crews spent part of the day sandbagging around the dam, National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Walton said.

"The concern is if the lake level continues to rise, it could rise high enough to work around the dam."

Walton said storms like these happen once in more than 100 years.

Mason County Sheriff Deputy, Shayne Eskew, talks to bystanders on Friday near a flooded section of Stiles Road, where the north branch of the Lincoln River meets the road.

The heaviest rain fell in the northern half of Mason County, including the state park. It started falling at 9 p.m. and didn't stop until 3 a.m.

Walton blamed it on a cold front that stalled over the county, colliding with moist Gulf of Mexico air from the south. Four storms rode the cold front, each dropping 1 to 2 inches an hour.

He compared the rainfall totals to the flood of 1986, but that dropped 11 to 14 inches of rain over several days and over a large area.

"This is a real extreme case," Walton said.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm declared a state of emergency in the county, along with other hard-hit areas in Allegan and Eaton counties, as well as the Lansing and Saginaw areas.

And the threat isn't over, Knizacky said.

The Pere Marquette River near Scottville isn't expected to crest until Sunday morning, possibly peaking at 7 feet above flood stage, the National Weather Service said. The delay in reaching the high water mark is due to tributaries and other wetlands draining into the river.

"We're not all-clear yet," Knizacky said. "The area of big concern is when it comes by and into Ludington."

Knizacky wouldn't speculate on what could happen because it's not known how high the water will be or how water will recede over the next day.

Like so many others in Mason County, the Palmers went to bed Thursday night during a heavy rain and woke to find water on their floor.

"What the hell?" her husband, Geno, said when he rolled out of bed and stepped in water.

"Did you spill something?" his wife asked.

Water rose to ankle-deep in the house during the day. They rescued their two beagles from a submerged pen out back. "They must have dog-paddled all night," Palmer said.

The American Red Cross set up a shelter at Ludington Junior High School, where three people spent part of Friday after being evacuated from homes near South Madison Street in the city limits. Rushing water had washed away a large section of the street.

Authorities did not know how many people had been forced to flee their homes.

The Palmers, like many, planned to spend Friday night with neighbors or relatives.

U.S. 31, one of two main north-south highways in Mason County, was closed in northern Mason County, between Scottville and Manistee, after rushing water washed out about 100 yards of pavement.

The state Department of Transportation said it planned to rebuild the stretch as soon as the ground dries out -- perhaps as early as Monday, depending on the weather. The state estimated damage at $250,000.

A car rests among the road debris of a washout on Stiles Road in Mason County on Friday.

Just to the west, flooding on Stiles Road made it nearly impossible to reach West Shore Community College. A river flowed over the road to the north; just to the south, the road washed out and swallowed a green Ford Taurus. It wasn't clear how the car ended at the bottom of the gully.

Some residents said they didn't know why their yards flooded. They were nowhere near a stream or lake. They believed the county's drains couldn't handle the run-off.

Floyd Britten was supposed to buy a home on U.S. 31 on Thursday, but the closing was delayed. "I'm not going to buy it now," he said as he surveyed the water that surrounded it.

"I don't blame ya," said the homeowner, Martin Schilling.

Helen and Frank Maleckas sit in front of their garage off U.S. 31 just north of Ludington while they wait for their basement to drain into their already flooded yard.

Just down the street, Frank Maleckas, 92, and his wife sat on lawn chairs as water flowed through a hose out of their flooded basement. They were surrounded by water.

"This is a first," said Maleckas, who has lived in the home about 40 years. "It's a disaster; that's all I can say."